cooking with bruce and mark

Culinary Myth #52: Salting Watermelon Makes it Sweeter

Join us as we cook through a new recipe in almost every episode of our podcast, straight from our kitchen to yours. And look for the smaller bonus episodes in which we take down cooking myths or work through some of the common cooking mistakes. We'll make your laugh. Promise.

All through the South, folks salt their fruit. Watermelon,
peaches, even apples. And we've heard for years that this tradition
makes fruit sweeter. Well, there's a kernel of truth here as the
fruit CAN taste sweeter if it's a sour fruit to start with. See,
salt has the ability to suppress the sour receptors on your tongue
which means the sweetness is going to feel more pronounced if you
eat a salted sour fruit, like a green apple. But watermelon? Last
time we tasted one it wasn't the slightest bit sour. So adding salt
doesn't do anything to your sense of sweetness. Instead you
taste a sweet/salty fruit. And that's not a bad thing just don't
fool yourself into thinking you're changing the sugar content
of your watermelon by sprinkling a little sale on
top.

About the Podcast

Join Bruce Weinstein, the chef, and Mark Scarbrough, the writer, as they work their way through recipes and culinary myths. Once a week, they'll cook through a recipe in real time--complete with all the travails that could bring to this long-married couple. What's more, once a week they'll gleefully disabuse you of the greatest cooking mistakes they've seen in their years teaching classes, distilled into short, funny episodes. Twice a week at the same price! (Zero dollars.) You can't beat that. Plus, you'll laugh. Promise.